Colombian President Gustavo Petro intends to put an end to the violence that has bloodied several rural regions of Colombia for decades. It invites all armed groups to dialogue with the State. Bogota maintains that a dozen of these groups have already signed ceasefire agreements. However, nothing has changed, for the time being, in most of the regions most affected by the armed conflict.
From our special correspondent,
In the villages along the San Juan River, in the west of the country. Under the crossfire of armed groups, many of which are involved in drug trafficking, the population lacks everything, including access to healthcare. Indeed, there is no road to reach these villages bordering the San Juan, in the department of Choco. It takes several hours by canoe along the Pacific coast, then confront the violent currents of the mouth of the river, before starting to sail along its banks, not without having shown its credentials.
With each rotation of her “Barco hospital” (hospital ship, editor’s note), launched thirteen years ago, Ana Lucia Lopez Salazar must ensure the consent of the armed groups. ” When they tell us we can’t come in, we don’t come in », Confirms the Colombian economist and epidemiologist. Five groups are fighting over the area, in particular the ELN guerrillas, with which the government has just opened negotiations, and Gulf Clanthe largest drug trafficking group in the country.
The hospital ship makes regular rotations on the San Juan River to help the population affected by the conflict, mostly indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities. This year, the mission is funded by the European Union and operated by Médecins du Monde. The arrival of the boat is negotiated at length with the ” gobernadores , the leaders of the communities bordering the river. The armed groups discreetly attend these interviews. ” They are very careful. They come to listen and watch what we do in the villages, to be sure that we don’t do intelligence “says Ana Lucia Lopez Salazar.
No weapon on board
For the inhabitants of this isolated region, the hospital ship is the only option for accessing healthcare. Firstly for cost reasons – the first public hospital is five hours away by canoe and petrol is expensive – and because the armed groups prevent them from moving around normally. ” We can only take care of the patients until 5 p.m., because they are not allowed to sail at night. If they do, armed groups shoot at them », Specifies the co-founder of the hospital boat.
On the stern of the boat, Barbara Sanchez Pizarro monitors the arrival of the first patients, walkie-talkie in hand. ” It is our means of communication with the earth », smiles the retired nurse, who says « feel safe on the boat and happy to helpr”. It is on land that the patients are registered before being sent on the boat, by canoe. It details the equipment: three consultation rooms, a pharmacy, an analysis laboratory. A total of 32 people, doctors and on-board personnel, live and work on the ship during these two to three week missions. A team of seven people is on the ground to visit more remote communities that cannot come to the boat.
A river contaminated by the illegal activities of armed groups
That day, the San Raffaele, is anchored in front of the indigenous village of Buenavista. The patients, of the Wounaan ethnic group, arrive in small groups. The boat has a capacity limited to 12 people. Sometimes, some members of armed groups also come for treatment. On the sides of the boat, automatic weapons crossed out with a red line remind us that no weapons are accepted on board. “ I come to pick up medicine for my son. He has had fever and diarrhea for a week explains Mirna shyly, her very weak child in her arms. This is one of the first causes of consultation. In these villages, there is no sanitation network or garbage collection.
The river is also contaminated by the large-scale exploitation of illegal gold mines by armed groups. ” They use a lot of mercury, which has become one of the main toxic wastes found in water », explains Jasir Banguero, ethno-educator for the Barco hospital. “ At the top of the river, the armed groups also cultivate coca, transform it, again with a lot of chemical products. This explains why many people suffer from skin diseases that were not observed before. “. The San Juan River is one of the drug export routes to Central America and the United States.
Hopes and concerns over the president’s ‘total peace’ policy
Lucila came to consult a gynecologist and to do, for the first time, an ultrasound. She is about to give birth to her fourth child. ” I learned it was a little girl. She is growing well, thank God! “, she confides. The young woman experienced the beginning of her pregnancy in forced confinement, due to fighting between armed groups. ” We couldn’t go up the mountain or get food. We couldn’t go out, just stay in our homes “, she says. Today, the armed groups authorize the population to move at certain times of the day. ” We travel in groups, three women and their husbands for example. Because we are afraid that something will happen to us, that we will be kidnapped or raped “, she adds. ” It would be good for the president to come to an agreement with the illegal groups, otherwise it will get even worse and increase the suffering of indigenous peasants like us. We suffer more here than people in the cities. »
President Gustavo Petro launched, when he came to power, what he calls a policy of ” total peace “. He invites all armed groups to dialogue with the State to find a peace agreement. Last month, Gustavo Petro announced the signing of ceasefire agreements with ” a dozen armed groups and discussions began with the ELN, the last guerrillas in the country. The invitation to dialogue was accepted, in principle, by all the San Juan River groups. ” This is a good thing comments ethno-educator Oscar Gomez, who has worked with these communities for decades. ” But for the moment nothing has changed here for these populations. Most people have never known peace. »
The signing of peace agreements with the FARC guerrillas, masters of the river until 2016, never put an end to this silent war. The diversity of the groups that have replaced it, of a political or economic nature, is likely to make negotiations difficult. ” If you take a map of the future major economic projects in Colombia, these are the places where the population is victim of armed groups. They frighten the population, so that they flee and they can recover the land. It’s infamous. That’s what’s happening all around Buenavista “, he curses.
State abandonment
In 2013, the 58 families of Buenavista suffered forced displacement. They finally resettled on their land in 2019, but say they received no state assistance and no guarantees that they would not have to flee again. ” While we were gone, everything died. Trees had grown on our crops “, laments Luis Angel Chamapurro, the leader of the community. ” Today, armed groups still come here. They travel in canoes without any distinctive signs, we don’t even know who is who. This year, strangers came to try to recruit our young people. Young people are regularly warned that it is a bad thing to join them. »
The only security break for these villages abandoned by the state: the day of the presidential election. ” We voted because there was security around the polling stations and all along the river. The army was deployed. But after the election, nothing. And it all started again “, he explains. This region of Colombia overwhelmingly voted in favor of Gustavo Petro. Luis Angel Chamapurro wants to believe in his policy of total peace and get involved in the regional dialogues with the State, which have started in the region. But what he especially expects is a strengthening and arming of the native guard on his territory, ” so that there is a minimum of control “.
Total peace: a beautiful concept with very blurred outlines
A little further down the river, the same thing happened in the community of Santa Rosa del Nalde, where Médecins du Monde and the Barco Hospital team came to offer a medical kit to the local nurse. It will serve the village and surrounding communities. ” We have 4,564 hectares of reserve in which we cannot move because of the illegal groups. You can’t use it for farming. And we receive no help from the authorities, regrets the leader of the community, Carlos Quintero. So hopefully the president can get some results. »
For several observers interviewed by RFI in this region, the ” total peace » is for the moment a beautiful concept that is still vague. ” It cannot be a one-government process. It is a long-term process, which involves in-depth social and structural change in rural areas, for greater equality. warns Alvaro Ramos, regional field coordinator for Médecins du Monde in the Pacific region of Colombia. ” The agreement with the FARC guerrillas in 2016 did not yield the hoped-for results. We went back to war. Ana Lucía López Salazar adds: “ The ELN guerrillas said they were going to negotiate, but there are still all these other groups, which are not of a political nature and which live off drug trafficking! When we speak with people here, they tell us that war will always be there, because economic interests will take precedence over any peace agreement. »
►To read: Colombia: a first agreement between the government and the ELN on indigenous people